Metabones vs. Commlite Canon EF to Sony E-mount Adapter Test

Canon may have a lot of catching up to do in the mirrorless market, which has seen photographers and video professionals flocking to cameras like the Sony A7s and the Panasonic GH4 for various reasons, whether it be 4K recording internal/external recording, low-light performance, or more compact camera bodies. But if there is one thing that keeps the Canon ship from sinking is the popularity of their EF and EF-S lenses. Those are still the most popular among photographers and video shooters by far, despite new lenses from Sony, Panasonic and budget manufacturers like Samyang. So, for Sony A7s shooters, especially those jumping ship from a Canon body and have a good selection of Canon mount lenses, the question becomes – which adapter to buy?

The choices are plenty, but the real options are generally reduced to Metabones vs. the rest. Metabones have cornered the optical adapter market with the enormous popularity of their Speed Booster line, which is quite a magnificent achievement nonetheless, but at prices that can make your heart sink.

Their build quality and optical performance is in my opinion unmatched by the competition, but things are not that “black and white” when one considers a non-Speed boosted smart adapter without optics. Dave Dugdale recently tested the budget-friendly Commlite EF to E-mount adapter against the Metabones variant. Check out his findings below, which may surprise you.

Despite costing about 4 x more than the $100 Commlite EF to Sony E-mount adapter, the Metabones EF-E Smart Adapter does not get you 4 x more performance. I wasn’t surprised to see Dave preferring the Commlite adapter and not just for the cost savings. The adapter does seem to perform very well and I can see why some would be hard pressed to shell out $400 for the arguably better built and more advanced Metabones adapter.

There are other options for more affordable Canon EF to E mount adapters, such as the one from Fotodiox, which Dave tested against the Commlite too in another test, which you can check out below.

So all you Sony A7s shooters out there, what do you use to adapter your EF lenses? Let us know in the comments below.